Monthly Archives: March 2014

First and foremost, a Hat-Tip and a Deep Bow to the estimable Gerald Tolomeo for mentioning this great moment in George Cukor’s rendition of Clare Booth Luce’s The Womenin which a chic department store corset model, played by the lovely Judith Allenintones her deathless single line “Have you tried our new lace one piece foundation garment?….Zips up the back and no bones.”

Rep. Paul Ryan continues to self-righteously push back against his racist dog whistles having been recognized for what they are. “I don’t have a racist bone in my body,” he told Bill O’Reilly. (Probably not! But then, racism tends to be carried more in the brain than the bones.)

Why “probably not”? One can find the record of Ryan’s — and other “Boneless” Republicans in this surprisingly astute Slate pieceby Jamelle Bouie entitled “Racist Bones” with a sub-head proclaiming “Paul Ryan says, ‘I don’t have a racist bone in my body.’ Why does every famous person accused of racism say that?”

Could it be BECAUSE THEY’RE RACIST????!!!!!!!!

Like Clawson, Bouie does a last-nanosecond feint at the prospect. But what are “dog-whistles”

for anyway? They’re there to “signal” fellow racists in the most “polite” way possible. Heaven forbid that any of them actually say “NIGGER!” They’ve got the “lace-curtain protection” of “the N-word” to deal with that. And like “the N-word,” “Inner City” is all one needs to say. Right? Get my drift?

Consequently the “dog whistle” very cleverly puts those who would point out the obvious on the defensive. “How DARE you accuse me of racism??!!!!” the racist loudly protests — immediately invoking “bones.”

But what about flesh? That’s the racist essence.

Bones are quite a different and simpler matter as the redoubtable Jack Sheldon will musically demonstrate.